Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Community Director Sister Natalie Binversie explains the history behind scholarships at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family at a recent Scholarship Awards Program in the Franciscan Center of Music Education and Performance.
Good afternoon! It is an honor to stand before you on this day of recognizing Silver Lake College of the Holy Family Scholarship recipients. We celebrate each of you as a person with all the gifts and talents that you have received from God. We celebrate your desire to learn and your commitment to education.
I am sure all of us have heard at least one time in our life how important history is. Knowing history helps us to understand the present and to appreciate the values that life holds for us into the future. With that in mind, why are we here this afternoon? We are here to learn a bit of history which will give us an appreciation of the Scholarship you have received.
145 years ago on November 9, 1869 the Community of Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity was founded. The main work of the Congregation in the beginning was education. In 1881 the community of Manitowoc asked the Sisters to staff a small hospital to take care of the medical needs of the sick. The Sisters responded to this request and whatever was needed to be done for this to happen was done. To this day the main ministries of the Franciscan Sisters are Catholic education, Catholic healthcare and Community Services.
Over time more young women joined the Community and became Sisters. They were asked to open schools across the United States and to run hospitals and healthcare facilities in Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin. From the foundation of the Community the Holy Spirit has guided the appointment of excellent leaders who had foresight to keep up with the times and insure that the Sisters were always well prepared to fulfill the tasks that were assigned to them. Sometimes it is hard to imagine how they did all that in the early days with little money and no modern conveniences. Read more.
